Out UK actress Michelle Hardwick, who plays Vanessa Woodfield in the TV soap Emmerdale, has revealed she had angry messages from fans after her character started dating a man following a lesbian storyline.

In the soap, she shared a short lesbian affair with friend and colleague Rhona Goskirk (Zoe Henry), before dating current 17-year-old toyboy Kirin Kotecha (Adam Fielding).

Talking to Digital Spy, Hardwick said

“There are certain people on Twitter that were so upset that Vanessa is not a lesbian after the Rhona story. I don’t respond to everyone but what I say is that when Vanessa came into the village, she wasn’t a lesbian.

She was a free spirit who was quite man mad, eyeing up Andy Sugden at the bar. Vanessa fell in love with her best friend who she was helping through a difficult time, and it became more of an obsession. Some people would prefer her to be with a woman, but hey ho – let’s mix it up a bit, that’s what I say!

Michelle Hardwick

Hardwick came out in 2013 and proposed to her girlfriend in real life on New Year’s Eve, 2013.

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